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Blockchain is beyond Bitcoin and now even the Indian government is officially willing to experiment and discover areas where the distributed ledger system can be implemented. In fact, during the recent Union Budget announcements, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while renounced the validity of cryptocurrencies acknowledged the potential behind Bitcoin’s technology.

In conversation with Entrepreneur India, Raj Chowdhury, Managing Director, HashCash, a global blockchain company, shares five sectors where blockchain can be applied:

Supply Chain

Blockchain can help you to understand the province of origin of the supply material/ parts. So for example, if there are few defective car models in the market and the manufacturer cannot pinpoint the parts which are defective, he will end up recalling millions of cars back to the facility.

However, with blockchain, the automobile manufacturer will be in a position to identify the defective models among his fleet and can also trace the defective auto part’s supplier for even small accessories like a nut or flange.

Pharmaceutical

There are a lot of fake drugs in the market which raises a threat to the lives of millions of people.

Generally, pharmaceutical companies might not intentionally market fake drug. They give contracts to an external manufacturer to produce the drug on behalf of them. These manufacturers in turn source raw material from companies around the globe. These drugs are then exported globally. Hence, it is very difficult to point out the loophole.

With the help of blockchain, pharma companies can not only track the source of the raw material but can also control or eliminate fake drugs circulating in the market.

Gems & Jewellery

Blockchain can be widely used in the origin verification of precious stones. Let's take the example of a diamond. The seller might help you with a certificate verifying the authenticity of the diamond, but one cannot say if the document is original.

The technology can help you track the origin of precious stone, its size and even its value. Additionally, it can also help stop the sourcing of blood diamonds from the war-zone or troubled areas in the market.

Legal Space

Chowdhury says with the advent of smart contracts, the industry cannot just automate contracts but even auto-implement them.

He agrees that there are risks involved with smart contracts as they are algorithmically executed. But there are a lot of simple contracts that do not specifically need any legal intervention and could be executed easily.

Public Sector

The state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, along with various countries are looking to maintain land registry or records on blockchain.

In the emerging nations, Chowdhury added we have seen a lot of land disputes where it is difficult to prove the real owner of the land. With blockchain, authorities can know who was the owner at any given point by accessing the database, which will help them in minimizing land disputes and lot of the civil cases that are pending in courts.